Play: Provide kids with printed out pictures or magazine pictures. Have kids add their own drawing to make an animal. Or, make faces with cut up pieces of fruit – blueberry eyes, orange slice mouth.

Math or Science: Make the salad and salad dressing in the book or make a recipe of your own. Talk about measurements. How much of each ingredient do you use for the recipe?

FEBRUARY

Old Dog Baby Baby

Read: “The Kitten’s” Dream” from Goodnight Songs

Talk: About pets. Do you have any pets in your family? What is your favorite kind of pet?

Sing: “BINGO” or other dog song

Write: Draw a picture of your dream pet.

Play: Act out how to approach an animal. How would you approach a family pet? An animal or pet that is new to you? Who should you ask for permission to approach a pet?

Math or Science: Talk about life cycles and animal names. How are puppies different from dogs, kittens different from cats.

Looking for Bongo

Read: In the book, what do you think Bongo is? Can you find clues in the pictures or words that help you guess what Bongo is?

Talk: Do you have a favorite stuffed animal? What kind of animal is it? How did you get it? What do you call it? What can you do with a stuffed animal that you can’t do with a live animal?

Sing: “Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?”

Write: Draw a picture of your family. Who is in your family?

Play: Hide a toy and work together to find it.

Math or Science: Recreate the booby trap at the end of the book. Or, try making your own pretend way to catch someone.

MARCH

Babies Don’t Walk, They Ride!

Read: When you’re out and about, at the places like we see in the story, what words can you find?

Talk: Talk about what other things have wheels. Find things around you that can roll.

Sing: The Wheels on the Bus.

Write: Draw a picture of what you see when you’re out and about.

Play: Play with a baby doll/stuffed animal- take it for a walk or a ride.

Math or Science: On each page, count the babies, count windows, and count the wheels.

Rescue Squad 9

Read: As you read, explore print awareness. Ask the children how they know which direction the pages should go.

Talk: About how loud noises can be scary, but remind children that it means people are helping others. Encourage them to look for helpers.

Sing: A song about the weather, the ocean or helpers.

Write: Trace the safety gear on the end papers of the book.

Play: Reenact the story. Use toy boats or other objects you can pretend are boats.

Math or Science: Discuss water science and safety. Look at the information in the back of the book.

The Airport Book

Read: As you read, pay special attention to repeating characters from page to page. For example, where is monkey? How does monkey’s journey differ from the family’s journey? How about other people on the plane?

Talk: About other things that fly.

Sing: Sing, listen to, or watch “The Airplane Song” by Laurie Berkner and do the actions.

Write: Write a plane ticket, make a passport.

Play: Line up chairs to pretend you’re on an airplane! Discuss airplane safety.

Math or Science: With a grown-up make and play with a paper airplane. Experiment with different shapes, sizes and weights. How can you get your plane to go further or faster?

APRIL:

Snail & Worm

Read: “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz” in Goodnight Songs

Talk: About the humor of the book. Why is it funny? Talk about perspective.

Sing: A song very slowly then very quickly. Think about how Snail and Worm move.

Write: Draw a favorite activity you like to do with a friend or a favorite thing you like about a friend.

Play: A guessing game. Describe something then see how many clues it takes to guess the object. Let everyone have a turn describing as well as guessing.

Math or Science: Look for snails, worms, rocks, and twigs outside. Explore other nature objects that you see outside.

Alan’s Big Scary Teeth

Read: A silly poem in Goodnight Songs, like “Bunny Jig”

Talk: About false teeth. Ask the child(ren) if they know anyone who has false teeth.

Sing: The Rafi song: Brush Your Teeth; if you don’t know it, look at the library or find a video on YouTube.